Last week I completed a post of about 25 paragraphs with no intention of publishing it. I have a number of these on file that are written more as a writing exercise and sort of a "thought hopper" than anything else.

Sometimes it's a handy way to keep my content creation muscles in shape, and other times it's a good way to get any issues I have down on a digital piece of paper and free my mind for more productive things.

When dealing with anger for instance, I can bang it out on the keyboard which allows me to feel so much better afterwards. The feeling of lightness once I "get it out" is incredible, and is one of the reasons people here say that I'm "so zen."

Contented Content

Finishing a blog post is in some ways like giving birth. There's a pathway from conception to plopping that baby out that's so satisfying for a writer. A lot of moving parts go into it all, and everything that I've experienced in life is channeled into my creative output.

Lately I've been binge-watching MrBeast videos on YouTube. Jimmy Donaldson is an amazing creator and reading about how he has a plan of attack for each video was very informative. No detail is too small to escape his notice, and he's willing to tweak things to see if he can juice out even more views for videos to come.

The posts that I "set aside" without publishing them, are mined (as well as added to), and they help to germinate ideas for both current and future posts. At times I'll ask myself how I felt when I was writing them, and that will end up leading me off on a tangent to develop new content and a fresh take on an old topic.

In short, I feel better and better the more I write.

Picture each of your posts as bricks that you're stacking up to build a grand residence. Each one being influenced by the ones before it as well as informing the outcome of the ones after it.

That's why I believe it's so important to develop your own authentic voice without relying on AI to do everything for you. Ensure that "you" are present in each piece of content that you create.

Be Relatable

What helps to make a great Hive blog post stand out is if it describes a situation that the reader can RELATE TO. When I finish a long piece of content I'm usually tired but feel great that I kept that train going until it reached the station.

Some of the most memorable writings that I've encountered on Hive were the ones that triggered the recall of something similar that I'd gone through myself. Having the creator paint a picture that I can see in my minds eye as well is a powerful way to ensure that I read your content time and time again.

It's one of the reasons why when I share events from my life, that I try to put you right there in the scene with me.

This can best be illustrated by a post I wrote a few years ago about a bully who became a friend. In Life is Precious #9 - My Walk with Timothy Martin I shared how this big, hulking, football player who preyed on smaller guys, ended up losing his popularity once he got cancer, and was abandoned by everyone, except me...

Watching his entourage slowly peel away from him as word of his disease spread, informed my choice when he finally reached out to walk to school with me. I'm so glad I made the right choice to show him some compassion in our daily walks before his time to depart arrived.

The theme of the piece is in having the strength to forgive someone who hurt you, and helping them to become a better person themselves as a result of it. I'd like to see more of that kind of impactful writing on Hive, and less of the endless DeFi, and web3, regurgitated flotsam that we see day after day.

Let your writing touch people in their daily walk, while offering hope to those who are going through the same things that you are. That if they are willing to put the work in and persevere, it does get better.